TONY Blair has offered Saddam Hussein the chance to stay in power in Iraq - if he swiftly hands over weapons of mass destruction.

TONY Blair has offered Saddam Hussein the chance to stay in power in Iraq - if he swiftly hands over weapons of mass destruction.

But in a Commons statement the Prime Minister made it clear that if the Baghdad dictator refuses, a massive military strike will go ahead.

He told MPs that to let Saddam keep his weapons would show "folly and weakness" and it would be a "dangerous moment" for the world.

In an effort to head off a rebellion among Labour MPs in the Commons tomorrow, Mr Blair launched a push for peace and made an astonishing offer to Saddam.

"I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to achieve disarmament peacefully," he said.

In a crowded and sombre Commons Mr Blair also said that if Saddam was genuinely willing to co-operate the UN weapons inspectors would have many more months to do their work - as much time as they want. "If he is not willing to co-operate then equally time will not help," said Mr Blair.

He was speaking after the Iraqi leader stunned the world by going on US TV to dismiss George Bush's calls for him to disarmHe defiantly refused point blank to obey UN demands to destroy his arsenal of medium range missiles.

But this afternoon one of his top advisers, Lt-Gen Amer al-Saadi, confused the issue by saying that a decision on the missiles was still being considered.

Although Mr Blair received strong backing from some quarters in the Commons, including former Tory leader William Hague, Labour concerns simmered below the suface.

Manchester MP Tony Lloyd, a former Foreign Office Minister, said that Mr Blair had failed to spell out the facts of war in Iraq, and the many human casualties. He had not shown that Sadddam proposes a sufficient threat "to warrant an act of war".

The Prime Minister told him the world had to take a strong view of Saddam Hussein's defiance and deal with it, but war was a last resort. "If there is military action we will, as in past conflicts, do what we can to minimise civilian casualties," said Mr Blair.

Another rebel, former Labour Cabinet Minister Chris Smith, insisted that the work of the UN weapons inspectors was not yet complete and a moral case for war had not been made.

But the Prime Minister, in a blunt warning to the rebels, said that any signal of division at this moment would allow Saddam Hussein to create months of delay.

The Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who tortured and murdered his own people. He said that failure to deal with Saddam Hussein would lead to greater suffering, not just for the people of Iraq but the world.

That was the point made by Mr Blair who said they had tried for 12 years to force Iraq to give up their deadly chemical and biological weapons. He said that this was 12 years of bitter experience and if the international community did nothing it would not be a road to peace, but folly and weakness that would lead to more bloody conflict.

"Today the path to peace is clear. Saddam can co-operate fully with the inspectors. He can voluntarily disarm. He can even leave the country peacefully. But he cannot avoid disarmament," said the Prime Minister.

And with 40,000 military personnel in the Gulf, Mr Blair said it was only this threat that had forced Saddam to make any concessions at all. He suggested he was playing games and time was running out.

"If the United Nations can't be the way to resolve this issue, this is a dangerous moment for our world."